The news in brief

Tuesday, May 27, 2014 - Updated: 9:56 AM

Teen biker clocked at 141 on Northway

QUEENSBURY (AP) -- State police say an 18-year-old man was clocked driving his sport motorcycle more than 140 mph on an upstate New York highway.

Troopers tell The Post-Star of Glens Falls that Isaac Jones of Hudson Falls, New York was traveling at 141 mph in the southbound lanes of Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway, in the Warren County town of Queensbury.

Troopers pulled him over Saturday after he had gotten off the highway at Exit 18 in Queensbury.

He was ticketed for speeding and sent to the county jail. He has since been released on bail.

Police are also investigation whether Jones was involved in a high-speed motorcycle chase with sheriff's deputies in neighboring Washington County last week.

Vets' hope to save USS Saratoga nixed

SARATOGA SPRINGS (AP) -- Former Navy sailors and New Yorkers with an attachment to the USS Saratoga say they're saddened by the news that the mothballed aircraft carrier will be scrapped instead of converted into a floating museum.

The Navy announced earlier this month that the carrier would be sold to a Texas scrap company for a penny. The ship will be towed from its pier near Newport, Rhode Island to Texas, where it will be dismantled and sold for scrap.

Brad Senter is president of the USS Saratoga Association, the alumni group of those who served aboard the carrier between its launching in 1955 and decommissioning in 1994. He said the former Saratoga sailors are saddened by the news, but they knew it was coming.

The carrier was named for the 1777 Revolutionary War battle.

Entire state canal system nearly open

ALBANY (AP) -- Most of the New York State Canal System has reopened after nearly half of the 524-mile waterway was shut down by high water earlier this month.

The state Canal Corp. says the Erie Canal between the Oswego Canal junction at Three Rivers to Lock E-24 in Baldwinsville has reopened. Lock E-24 remains closed for the time being.

Last week, long stretches of the canal system were reopened after being closed for days because high water caused by heavy rains in mid-May made conditions too hazardous for navigation.

Rents are cut at 1 World Trade Center

NEW YORK (AP) -- The owners of the World Trade Center's signature skyscraper are slashing office rents nearly 10 percent because they can't find enough tenants.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 1 World Trade Center is 55 percent leased. It says no private office tenant has signed a lease in almost three years.

The owners are cutting asking rents to $69 a square foot for larger tenants on the building's middle floors. Developer Douglas Durst tells the newspaper that's down from $75 a square foot.

Durst bought a stake in the 1,776-foot tower from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2011.

Major tenants in the building include magazine publisher Conde Nast and the government's General Services Administration.

The skyscraper, the nation's tallest building, is scheduled to open later this year.

Dozens reported killed in Ukraine

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) -- The eastern city of Donetsk was in turmoil Tuesday a day after government forces used fighter jets to stop pro-Russia separatists from taking over the airport. Dozens were reported killed and the mayor went on television to urge residents to stay indoors.

The city of 1 million was engulfed by fighting Monday when rebels moved to seize the airport, Ukraine's second largest. They were repelled by government forces using combat jets and helicopter gunships. Associated Press journalists witnessed intensive gun fire throughout the day and into the night. Plumes of black smoke rose into the air and officials shut down Donetsk airport and nearby streets to traffic amid the fighting.

Donetsk mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko said 40 people, including two civilians, were killed in Monday's fighting. Rebel leaders, meanwhile, said the deaths could reach up to 100.

Fire breaks out at Church of Nativity

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- A fire broke out today at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, causing slight damage near the place where Jesus was thought to have been born.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, a church official, said the fire was accidental. "The curtains around the grotto caught fire from a candle and that is all that happened," he said. "It was not arson."

It occurred just a few days after Pope Francis visited.

The church is built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born. The fire was quickly put out, but burnt remains of the curtains lay on the floor near the grotto and there was some smoke damage to the walls.

The church is one of the holiest sites in Christianity. On Sunday, Francis went to the church during a three-day visit to the Holy Land, calling it a "great grace" to pray at the site of Jesus' birth.